This archive report was first published on 7 October 2021.
On October 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a significant announcement in the fight against malaria, recommending the RTS,S vaccine, also known as Mosquirix, for widespread use in African children.
Developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine has been administered to over 2.3 million infants in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi since 2019 as part of a large-scale pilot program coordinated by the WHO.
According to the WHO, the majority of malaria-related deaths occur in children under the age of five, with 94% of cases and deaths occurring in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people.
"This is a vaccine developed in Africa by African scientists and we're very proud," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "This vaccine is a gift to the world but its value will be felt most in Africa."
The vaccine's effectiveness in preventing severe cases of malaria in children is around 30%, but it is the only approved vaccine against the disease.
The WHO's recommendation comes after a decade of clinical trials in seven African countries and follows a call for a pilot program in 2015 by the WHO's expert panels.
